We Speak Tennis

Sloane Stephens Defeats Madison Keys to Win 2017 U.S. Open

Published

9 years ago

September 10, 2017

umeektv

Sports Illustrated

Earlier this year, Sloane Stephens couldn’t walk. Now she’s the 2017 U.S. Open champion.

The 24-year-old American defeated compatriot Madison Keys 6-3, 6–0 in Saturday’s championship match, earning her first career Grand Slam title. The match lasted just 61 minutes.

Stephens, who was unseeded entering the tournament, only made her season debut in July at Wimbledon after a long recovery from foot surgery. Stephens skipped last year’s U.S. Open because of the injury, which kept her out for nearly a year.

Both players were first-time Grand Slam finalists. Keys, 22, eased past CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinal, but she couldn’t find her rhythm against Stephens, who played nearly mistake-free tennis on Saturday and never let Keys settle into a groove.

Stephens finished the match with just six unforced errors.

Stephens seemed to pick up where she left off after beating Venus Williams in a thrilling three–set semifinal.

Stephens has never lost the final of a professional tournament.

We Speak International Sports

Iva Jovic, 18, Beats Paolini Again to Reach Ningbo Quarterfinals

American teenager Iva Jovic beat Jasmine Paolini for the second straight time, 6-4, 6-3, on Thursday to reach her seventh quarterfinal of a breakout 2026 season at the Ningbo Open.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 22, 2026

Royal Jones

Iva Jovic hitting a backhand at the Ningbo Open

Iva Jovic’s breakout season rolled on in Ningbo. The 18-year-old American, the No. 4 seed, defeated two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Ningbo Open on her tournament debut.

After a first-round bye, Jovic fell behind 1-3 in the opening set before breaking in the fifth and ninth games to take it. The second set featured break after break — Jovic broke Paolini four more times — and she closed out the win in an hour and 22 minutes.

It is Jovic’s second straight win over Paolini, leveling their head-to-head at 2-2. She also beat the Italian at the Australian Open in January, her first Top 10 win, on her way to a first Grand Slam quarterfinal. By the WTA‘s count, Thursday’s win was her 42nd tour-level victory of 2026 — by far her best season — her 20th career win over a Top 50 opponent, and it puts her in a seventh quarterfinal this year. She reached the semifinals in five of the previous six.

Born in Torrance, California, Jovic won her first WTA title in Guadalajara in September 2025, the youngest tour champion of that season, then defended the title last month, beating Peyton Stearns in the final. This year she has also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the US Open and peaked at a career-high No. 11 earlier this month; she is currently ranked No. 12.

Jovic plays sixth seed Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals, having won their only previous meeting, in Dubai, in three sets. And with Iga Swiatek’s season over, a deep run in Ningbo would strengthen her case to travel to next month’s WTA Finals in Indian Wells as an alternate.

Photo credit: WTA

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